


I'd Love To Change The World

by Discogurl



Series: I'd Love To Change The World [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood and Injury, Domestic Violence, Gun Violence, Illegal Activities, Kidnapping, M/M, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Russian Mafia, mafia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-02-04 03:12:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12761916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Discogurl/pseuds/Discogurl
Summary: Ryder Chapman may not seem to be anyone special when compared with the entire population of New York, but he does manage to catch the eye of a particularly notorious Russian mob boss located in the heart of the city. Ryder must figure out what he must do in order to stay on the boss's good side and stay alive for another day. He doesn't expect to ever be able to escape from the mob's firm grasp on him, but at some point, Ryder may not actually want to leave.





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever work I'm publishing on AO3 and it's an original work I made simply because the concept has always intrigued me. The writing will hopefully continue to evolve and get better the more I post, but even so, I hope you all like it! This is my baby so please leave genlte comments! Xx

Ryder always thought himself to be a relatively deep sleeper but the sound of shattering glass does the trick in waking the sleeping young man up. 

Ryder’s eyes snap open and he instinctively sits up to turn and face the side of his room the commotion was taking place at. As his eyes fight to adjust to the darkness the intruders move swiftly towards him. Ryder doesn’t get the chance to react any further as a man dressed in dark clothes grabs Ryder by the hair on the back of his head, and a knife is instantly shoved directly up against his throat. 

Ryder flails as wildly as he dares to considering a knife is against his throat, in order to attempt and escape his attackers hold on his hair, but the man has a solid grip and doesn’t budge. 

“Stop moving,” hisses a voice against Ryder’s ear. He can feel the breath puff against the side of his face and the sensation only makes Ryder flinch. 

“Who are you? Get away from me! Help!” Ryder calls out in desperation, fear evident in his voice. He once again runs out of time to get any more words out of his mouth because in that instant, another man moves forward and leans in close to Ryder's face. 

The man almost growls as he glares directly at Ryder. “I would hate to have to kill your family on such a peaceful night, so I would advise you to keep quiet,” the man mumbles darkly to Ryder. 

Ryder’s nose flares as he fights to breathe normally again. He’s terrified and confused, and having just woken up from a deep sleep doesn’t help in the slightest. 

The man who threatened to kill Ryder's family then grabs Ryders’ hands and brings a roll of duct tape into Ryder's line of sight and wastes no time in taping them together by his wrists. Ryder struggles to try and tug them away but the man is strong and insistent. Ryder doesn’t stand a chance. 

After his wrists are taped together, Ryder’s hair is let go and the knife against his throat is removed. A different man comes forward then and grabs Ryder’s arm and hauls him out of his bed and onto his feet. “Time to go now,” he states coldly to Ryder, keeping ahold of his arm as he starts to pull him towards the window.

The other men follow as Ryder is forced to the open window. Outside and leaning against the building is a ladder, and two more men standing at the bottom, each with guns in their hands. Ryder once again kicks up a fight, not wanting to go out the window, but the man holding his arm man handles him up to the window. 

“Stop struggling and get out and on the ladder before you piss me off and I throw you out,” the man threatens darkly to Ryder. 

Ryder doesn’t think any of these guys look like the kidding type, so he decides to do as he’s told and swings a leg up and out of the window, straddling the window pane for a moment to make sure he has his foot firmly planted on the ladder before he swings his other leg over and out of the window.

With his wrists bound, climbing down the ladder is a little difficult, but Ryder is able to lean his upper body against the metal rungs and lets his feet guide him slowly down to the ground.

Once he makes it to the ground, the men waiting there grab him to keep him from running, and they wait for the rest of the men to come down the ladder from Ryder’s bedroom. The ladder is then taken down and folded up before being picked up by two of the men. One of the men shrugs off his black leather jacket and drapes it across Ryder's shoulders to make him look just slightly more clothed and inconspicuous. Ryder doesn't want the jacket since it stinks of cigarette smoke, but also doesn't particularly want to walk around basically naked, so he keeps it on. 

After everything is cleaned up and collected, the gang of men heads down the alleyway and into a maze of other alleys, staying in the shadows whenever possible as they travel further and further away from Ryder’s home. The only people who see them are a few homeless men and women who are too weak or more likely, too afraid to help. 

“Where are you taking me? Why are you doing this? I didn’t do anything. Please, let me go, I won’t go to the cops I swear. I’ll forget this even happened. Please!” Ryder desperately tries in vain to get one of the men dragging him along to talk and explain things to him. 

The man Ryder is addressing stays stoic and quiet however, and Ryder doesn’t learn anything new from him. In desperation, Ryder turns to look at the man on his other side helping pull him along as well and opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get a word out, the man growls animalistically and without much more of a warning, he twists Ryder’s arm and the younger man cries out in pain. 

“Jesus Christ, shut the hell up before I break your arm,” the man snaps coldly before untwisting Ryder’s arm. 

Ryder keeps his mouth shut after that and walks silently for the rest of their journey. 

 

 

 

 

\---Earlier that Day---

 

In reality, Ryder knows better than to be doing this. It isn’t even the first time he and his friends have gone out into the city and stirred up some mischief. The three friends never do anything to actually harm anyone. Most often they just deface property with spray paint or knock over people’s trash, pranks which make the boys laugh but others curse. 

The sound of his friends snickering beside Ryder make him frown and reach out to swat each of their shoulder’s to earn their attention. 

“You guys are going to get us caught if you keep giggling like a bunch of little girls,” Ryder hisses in the darkness, “I don’t want a repeat of last month. I’m not getting chased down by an old lady again. I refuse”.

“Calm down man, we aren’t even that loud,” Theo says in response to Ryder’s scolding. “We’re almost there anyway. And no old ladies will be anywhere near us”.

Ryder scowls at his friend but doesn’t argue back since it would be worthless. Theo is too stubborn for his own good sometimes. 

The three of them approach their target within the next minute. It’s an old and abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city, a perfect location for them to be at since no one is around especially at night and the boys had figured no one would mind if they spiffed the building up a little bit. Aiden drops his backpack to the ground and unzips it before he reaches inside the bag and pulls out several cans of spray paint. 

Next, out come the masks and the flashlights so they can see their work in the dark. After distributing everything to Theo and Ryder, Aiden gives them each a giddy smile. 

“Shall we begin boys?” he asks. 

Ryder does manage a smile at that. Out of the three of them, Aiden gets the most joy out of their graffiti. 

Theo answers his friend with a hoot and then gives his can a quick shake before he starts to spray the wall with his yellow paint. Ryder follows his lead and steps up beside Theo to use his own orange paint to start too. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Aiden concentrating hard on his own work with his signature black paint. 

It never does take very long for them to finish their work. Half an hour later the three boys are running out of paint as they step away from the building to look at their artwork. Now instead of a plain brick wall, they’ve painted on images of dragons, faces, quotes, and other creative designs. And of course, in the very bottom corner is their trademark, the first letters of each of their first names. 

After standing back and admiring their work, Ryder gives an approving nod. “Good job guys. I think thisone is one of my favorites, ” Ryder insists, though he knows he says the same thing after almost each and every project they do. “Now let’s get out of here. This place is kind of creepy”.

The other two boys silently agree as they put their flashlights back in the bag it all came from, but the virtually empty paint cans are left at the scene. Aiden brings his bag back up and onto his shoulders and they all head off together. 

Once the boys are back downtown in the city and back to their neighborhood they part ways and bid one another goodbye. Normally they would stay together and head to their shared dorm room at the college they each attend, but summer means living back at home. 

Ryder heads towards the apartment building he calls home and is thankful when no one is meandering around in the lobby or the halls since it’s never fun to explain his whereabouts at this time of night to the old people living in the building. 

Ryder knows he’s fully capable of taking the stairs since the floor he resides on is only the second one but he feels particularly lazy at that moment, so he presses the button for the elevator.

After only a few seconds of silence Ryder hears the soft ping of the elevator signalling its arrival and Ryder is quick to step inside and make his way up to the second floor. Once there, Ryder digs in his pocket for his key and lets himself into the quiet apartment. 

He isn’t surprised when he apartment is dark and silent. Just last year his older sister Zoey moved away from home for good when she graduated from college to start medical school. Things around home have been quiet since then. 

Ryder makes sure to lock the door behind him as he quietly makes his way through the quaint apartment and heads towards his room at the end of the hall. Once he finally makes it to his room, Ryder closes the door and uses his phones flashlight to make his way over to the bed through the dark room. 

Ryder shrugs his backpack off and lightly tosses it onto the floor beside his bed. He then proceeds to pull out his phone, simultaneously pulling his blankets back. In record time, Ryder peels his clothes off of his body and tosses the wrinkled garments aside on the floor. Once dressed only in his boxers, Ryder gets himself settled under the covers as he unlocks his phone and checks his social media. As per usual, he has no notifications. 

With nothing to do on his phone, Ryder locks it again and tosses it onto the table beside the bed. He proceeds to then tuck himself in snugly under his blankets and find a comfortable position to lie in, and lets sleep take him under.


	2. Watch Your Back

Ryder loses track of time as they walk through the dark and dirty alleyways. The sun is just under the horizon, meaning it’s early morning and the people of the city will be waking up soon to start their day. Ryder can only hope once more people are around, someone will see him and help. 

That hope fizzles out into nothing when the men come to a stop in front of a massive building. The building doesn’t look like anything special to Ryder, but he knows better than to let the appearance fool him into feeling a sense of calm. As the men step up towards a door, Ryder decides the building must be a warehouse of some sort. 

He’s thoroughly confused at this point about why he’s been kidnapped and tries once more to free himself from the men’s grasp on him, but his body is exhausted from the walk and his previous struggling, and the men holding his arms are much stronger than Ryder. 

Ryder’s struggle is unsurprisingly futile as the warehouse door is unlocked and he’s shoved forward roughly. The questions Ryder already has about the warehouse aren’t answered as he enters, head rotating on his shoulders to get a good look at his surroundings. 

The inside is dimly lit and eerily quiet. They’re in a small room with a hall leading straight out of it. The only furnishings in the small room are some cushioned chairs along the far wall. Other than the chairs, the room is absolutely empty. Ryder knows there must be more to the warehouse than this and almost wishes he could see the rest, only because then he might be able to get an understanding of what’s going on. 

The men turn to lead Ryder down the one exit from the room, and the hallway doesn’t provide any more information. It’s just as dimly lit and much too narrow for Ryder’s liking. An uneasy feeling settles over Ryder and his feet begin to drag. The men beside him keep him moving though and Ryder doesn’t have any other choice other than to keep up with them. 

After walking down the hallway to the very end, the men stop at another door. This one is also locked, and one of the men in their little group steps forward to unlock it. Ryder holds his breath as the door swings open, and just like before, Ryder is shoved inside. 

It’s another room, though this one is much larger and brighter. The new room also has more furniture. There are more chairs scattered along the walls, as well as a small table sitting in the corner with a small stack of magazines piled on the top. The room oddly enough resembles that of a waiting room Ryder would see at a dentist or doctor’s office. 

Ryder just wants to be done with guessing what’s going on and wants to be able to sit down and give his legs a rest. 

His wish seems to come true as the men holding his arms man handle Ryder into a chair. Ryder doesn’t fight back then since he has no problem with sitting for a bit. 

“I’ll get Mr. Maksim. Make sure the kid stays here,” one of the men barks out in an order to the others around, taking on the position of a leader. 

“Yes sir,” several of the men mumble in response to their directions. Then the leader turns and goes through another door. 

Ryder scowls after him and looks around at the others standing in a circle around him, all of them visibly relaxing now that they’ve been left on their own with what they must think is an easy job. But Ryder has other plans. This is his chance to escape. He’s tired and would much rather stay sitting and not risk getting himself into trouble, but he can’t just sit there and do nothing to try and help get himself out of this horrible situation. 

Ryder doesn’t know how much time he’s going to have in order to do this, so he makes a plan as quickly as he can, eyes flickering around the room. Within just a moment he knows what he needs to do. 

Ryder jumps up onto his feet, shoving the men in his way in order to push past them and run for the door they had come in from. He doesn’t look back to see if the men are running after him, only pushes forward and out into the hall in a sprint. 

He remembers how they got to the room so he knows to head straight down the hong hallway towards the very first door he had come in through. 

Ryder can hear yelling just behind him, shouts demanding for him to stop running and come back, and also yells for backup to come aid in their chase to get Ryder before he manages to make it out of the door and outside. 

He just has a few more feet to go before he’s free and can get away from these people, but just as Ryder is about to make it to the door, something hits Ryder in his left shoulder and he cries out in pain. His feet stumble at the shock of the incredible burning sensation spreading over his shoulder and down into his arm.

In his desperation to escape, Ryder grits his teeth and bears the pain. He doesn’t have time to fret about his throbbing injury, not when time is so precious. 

Ryder’s efforts are futile though. The few seconds after being hit when he had stumbled and slowed down have cost him. A hand grabs Ryder’s bicep, the one on his good arm, to force him back from the door, and another cry of pain escapes Ryder’s lips as the movement jostles his shoulder where he’d been hit.

“No! Let me go! That hurts! You can’t do this!” Ryder yells as his captor drags him further from his one and only means of escape. He feels his hope diminish more and more with each step he’s forced back. 

“It would be wise of you to cease your struggling unless you wish to further injure yourself,” Ryder’s captor states blandly. His accent is heavy and distinctly foreign. Russian to be exact, and Ryder’s eyes widen. 

Ryder is indeed struggling to get away from this new man and it does hurt a great deal by doing so. As the adrenaline gradually wears off, the more his shoulder starts to really ache. He still isn’t sure what happened to it, but it’s beginning to feel serious. So Ryder’s struggles do begin to slow against his better judgment. 

“Just please, tell me what’s going on… my family will look for me when they see I’m missing. They’ll call the police and-” Ryder is cut off as the man dragging him hauls him up as if he weighs next to nothing, and shoves him against the wall with his back facing outwards. 

Without a word, the Russian man pins Ryder against the wall, seemingly irritated with his babbling and wants him to shut up. Ryder is close to opening his mouth again to prod once more for answers, but a white hot pain shoots up and down his body from his bad shoulder as the man seems to mess with his injury. 

Instinctively, Ryder tries to tear himself away, but the man applies more pressure where he’s holding Ryder’s good shoulder against the wall to keep him in place. “I’ll only warn you one more time to stop struggling, because if you move while I remove the knife you’ll only damage your shoulder further,” the man snaps.

“A knife?” Ryder mumbles to himself in disbelief, before his eyes go wide and he turns his head to try and talk some sense into the man and figure out the smartest way to go about removing the knife, and also to make it known he isn’t exactly pleased he’d had a knife thrown at him.

Ryder is once again cut off and surprised as the man ignores Ryder completely, and wraps his hand securely around the handle of the knife before giving a swift pull. 

Ryder knows he screams and he doesn’t care at that point. He’s never felt a pain like the one he’s experiencing then. It doesn’t help that he had turned his head around just in time to watch this process out of the corner of his eyes. He had seen how long the knife was and how quickly so much blood was leaving his body. 

Ryder suddenly feels weak and lightheaded as he sways a little on his feet. The man is speaking behind Ryder but he doesn’t process what’s being said through his hazy mind. All Ryder knows is that a moment later he feels pressure against his bleeding shoulder and he hisses in pain, but finds he can’t move much to get away from the sensation. 

Ryder chances another quick look over his shoulder once again to attempt to figure out what’s being done to him now, and sees that the Russian man is now holding a cloth against the wound. The cloth looks like it originally was another color, but now it’s only red, obviously with Ryder’s blood. 

Upon seeing the blood soaked cloth, Ryder promptly passes out as the world goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so thankful to finally have gotten this next chapter typed and posted! Right now just about all of the characters have been mentioned but several of them haven't revealed their names as of yet but the time will come shortly! Also pretty soon more dialogue between characters too, I just want to make sure the basic premise is set up before the characters really start talking. Thanks for reading! xoxo


	3. The Russian Man

Ryder isn’t sure why he feels so miserable when he finally wakes up. His whole body aches as if he hasn’t moved a single muscle in days. 

Ryder’s head hurts too and his throat is dry and scratchy, thirsty.

Worst of all though, Ryder’s shoulder hurts. The entire area surrounding his left shoulder aches as the memory of being stabbed comes back. Ryder slowly sits up and makes sure he doesn’t strain his shoulder with the movement. 

Ryder reaches around himself to his back as best he can, and lets his fingers ever so carefully brush over where the knife wound should be. His fingers roam over the white t-shirt on him, and he knows it isn’t one of his own. Upon looking down, Ryder also notices he's been given a pair of red shorts to wear too. 

He feels a slightly raised area over the wound, a bandage of some sort, and Ryder doesn’t feel like he’s bled through it at all, or if he had he doesn’t feel any blood. 

After deeming his injury is in decent condition, Ryder brings his hand back and turns his attention to his surroundings to try and see if he recognizes where he is or if there is any way to escape. 

No one is in the room with him, and he had been laid down on a small bed along the wall across from the door. There are no windows. The only other items in the room are a small table and chair at the foot of the bed. 

Ryder notices a plastic cup of water on the table, as well as a plate, though the only food on the plate is a sandwich. Ryder feels his stomach instantly react to the sight of food with a loud growl, but he ignores it for the time being. 

Ryder gets to his feet and licks over his dry lips. He needs to try the door and see if he’s lucky enough that it’s been left unlocked. Ryder gets to his feet and walks over across the room, reaching out for the handle of the door, turning it, but like he had expected, the door is locked. 

Ryder tries the door several times as if the more he tries the more likely it is for the door to open. It never does. 

The door not opening sours Ryder’s mood significantly. If he can’t get the door to open then there is no other possible way for him to get out of this room, which Ryder thinks very much resembles a cell. 

Ryder stalks away from the door with a scowl and eyes the food. He doesn’t think he’s been here for more than a few hours, but he also doesn’t know when he’s going to be allowed to eat again after this. Ryder doesn’t want to press his chances since these men seem to care very little about his well being, the knife in the back proving that. 

Ryder steps slowly over to the table and sits down, reaching for the sandwich. It appears to just have a slice of cheese in between the two pieces of slightly soggy bread and nothing more. With a resigned sigh, Ryder takes a bite as he once again starts to think. 

So far Ryder knows he’s being held in a warehouse, so long as he hadn’t been transported after he’d gone unconscious. 

Ryder also knows at least six other men are participating in whatever criminal activity is occurring, and none of them are willing to help him get out of this situation. He had a knife thrown at him from behind, so Ryder is sure these men aren’t even slightly afraid of hurting him. 

Anything else, Ryder doesn’t know. If he hadn’t passed out from seeing his own blood and the pain combined with it, then he would at least have a better understanding of where he is and how much time has passed. 

Finishing the sandwich in one last bite, Ryder chews and reaches for the cup of water sitting nearby. He chases the sandwich down with the water, drinking all of it. 

When both food and drink are consumed, Ryder sets the plastic cup back onto the table. His eyes once again wander over to the door and he scowls. Ryder gets back up onto his feet and starts to pace around the small room, quickly going deep in thought. 

Ryder has no idea on how much time passes as he paces and thinks, but he’s finally pulled out of his thoughts when he hears the handle of the door jiggle and click as if it’s being unlocked. 

The door opens as Ryder stands frozen in the middle of the room, hesitant since he doesn’t want to be stabbed again. A man walks in, one Ryder thinks he vaguely recognizes. The man closes the door behind him and pockets the key. As he takes a step towards Ryder, Ryder takes one backwards, though he’s only able to go back a few steps before his back hits the cold stone wall. 

“Don’t worry kid I’m not here to hurt you. Just following orders. My boss wants to see you,” he states and makes a gesture with his hand to show Ryder he wants him to come closer. 

Ryder gives the man a cautious glance for several seconds, but the man never does make a move to pull out a weapon or move to hit Ryder. So he takes a tiny step forward.

“Who’s your boss?’ Ryder asks, still hesitant and cautious. 

The man, hand still outreached towards Ryder, quirks his lips up into a small smirk. “Well follow me and he’ll introduce himself,” the man answers. 

Ryder doesn’t like the answer he receives and frowns. He steps forward towards the man anyway though since he knows he can’t stay in this room forever and expect to get out. His only hope is to look around some more and see who this boss is and if he’s a particular threat. 

As soon as Ryder is close enough, the man takes his wrist, his good one, Ryder thinks gladly, and he’s pushed to walk in front of the man over to the door. The man’s grip isn’t too tight or painful so Ryder doesn’t fight too much. 

The man extends an arm and opens the door, making Ryder go out into the hallway first before he follows him and lets the door close behind them both. 

The man keeps his hand around Ryder’s wrist to likely try and keep Ryder close and unable to runaway. 

As Ryder lets his eyes roam around the unfamiliar hallway, he addresses the man. “What’s your name?” he asks innocently enough. 

The man watches the back of Ryder’s head as they walk, taking a moment to decide if giving his name would be a mistake or not. Finally he makes up his mind. 

“Aleksei...it’s a strong Russian man’s name, so don’t get any ideas in your head about saying I have a girl’s name or am weak,” Aleksei warns, his grip tightening around Ryder’s wrist subconsciously. 

Ryder huffs and gives his arm a small tug. “Didn’t plan on it,” he grumbles. 

Aleksei loosens his grip then with a nod. “Good,” he says, his voice a bit haughty. 

Ryder feels a small smirk pull on his lips. “You don’t sound Russian though. That one guy from before had a really heavy Russian accent, but you don’t,” Ryder goads, unable to help himself. 

Aleksei doesn’t seem to think his teasing is as amusing as Ryder thinks it is. The man makes a sound which reminds Ryder of a growling dog, and his smirk falters slightly. 

“Hey man, I meant you sound very Russian. Big, strong, scary Russian dude with a manly name,” Ryder insists in an effort to backtrack. 

Aleksei snickers under his breath. “Good save,” he mumbles. 

Ryder thinks he hears a small hint of amusement in Aleksei’s response and he’s relieved the man has decided not to torture him or something else equally as violent and painful. 

At that moment Aleksei stops, thus making Ryder stop too, in front of a door. The door is strange though since it’s painted a dark shade of red. Ryder instantly feels uneasy and without even thinking about it, he tries to take a step backwards, only succeeding in bumping back against Aleksei’s chest. 

The man pushes Ryder back towards the door, not totally unkindly, and reaches out to rap his knuckles against the door in a quick succession. 

Aleksei doesn’t make any move to enter even after he knocks, seeming to be waiting for something before he does. 

“Come in,” a deep voice comes from behind the door, instantly making the hair on the back of Ryder’s neck stand on end. The voice is familiar and Ryder knows he’s heard it before. 

Only as Aleksei opens the door and pushes Ryder inside does Ryder recognize the man sitting at the large desk in front of him. It’s the same man who pulled the knife out of Ryder’s shoulder. The Russian man.

The man looks up from his papers on his desk and gives Ryder a chilling look, gesturing for him to come closer. Aleksei let’s go of Ryder then to allow him to move. As he does this, the man at the desk keeps his eyes on Ryder and flicks his wrist at Aleksei to silently dismiss him.

Ryder wants so badly to turn and run outside with Aleksei, but his feet are frozen in place, eyes glued to the Russian man before him. 

“Hello Ryder,” the Russian man greets. “Have a seat won’t you?” he says, phrasing his question to make it sound like more of a demand than an offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once again for reading! It still means so much to me whenever I see I got a new comment or a new kudos! Feedback gives me extra motivation to continue writing. Thank you x1000! xoxo


	4. Finding Out

Obviously Ryder isn’t in a very good place to deny the Russian man what he wants. He has no weapons and no exit since he is almost positive the door behind him was locked after Aleksei left, or that the man was still outside to make sure Ryder didn’t escape. 

As Ryder takes a minuscule step forward to do as the man said, he brings his lower lip between his teeth to give himself something else to focus on. Ryder’s eyes are busy studying the man to figure out just how much of a threat he is. 

Ryder still isn’t sure who threw the knife at him from earlier, but whoever it was would have had to have been physically fit in order to put enough power behind the throw. This man is very muscular. The dark gray fabric encompassing the man’s arms is tight, whether that’s due to the shirt being too small or the man’s muscles being too large, Ryder doesn’t know for sure. 

The top several buttons of the shirt are undone, revealing only a peek of sparse dark hair before fabric leaves the rest of the man’s chest a mystery. The shirt is tucked into a pair of black jeans, a belt of the same color wrapped around his waist. The man’s shoes are black as well, laced up and shiny. 

Once Ryder’s eyes run down to the floor, he slowly allows his gaze to float back up and look at the man straight on, trying to seem confident, taking the last couple of steps to the chair in front of the desk. 

Ryder sits down stiffly and brings his arms up to defensively wrap them around his middle. 

The Russian man hasn’t spoken a single word after giving his initial instructions, and the silence makes Ryder squirm slightly in discomfort. 

The silence continues and Ryder’s feigned confidence in the situation is slowly lowering even further. His eyes drop down from the other mans and he looks down instead at his own lap. 

Another beat of silence passes before the RUssian man finally clears his throat to speak. 

“How is your shoulder?”

Ryder frowns and glances back up at the man, having not expected those words to be the ones coming out of his mouth next. 

“It still hurts… but it isn’t bleeding anymore, I don’t think,” Ryder answers honestly. 

The Russian man nods his head slowly, eyes boring into Ryder’s own. His intense gaze makes Ryder once again bow his head to look back down at his lap. 

“I understand you are confused and seeking answers about why you have been brought here, correct?” 

Ryder doesn’t look up even then. “Well yeah. I mean, I didn’t do anything to you I swear. I don’t even know you, or anyone else here.”

The man behind the desk stands up then and places his palms flat on the desk in front of him. “You are right,” the man speaks in his heavy accent, “you do not know me or anyone else here, but you are by no means innocent. Do you remember where you were last night Ryder? What you were doing?”

Ryder doesn’t remember right away what he had been doing the previous night, thinking over his day and the evening when he was with Aiden and Theo. He doesn’t know why this man is asking about that night, since he never saw him. 

“I… was with my friends last night. We were just hanging out,” Ryder mumbles, not wanting to admit what it was exactly they were doing. 

“And what was it you were doing?” the man asks further, voice eerily calm and even. 

By now Ryder knows the man must know he and his friends had been spray painting illegally on a building. He just isn’t sure why that’s of importance now. He also doesn’t want to admit to it yet just in case he still has a chance of keeping his secret. 

“Just hanging out, exploring the city. Nothing else I swear,”

It happens so quickly Ryder isn’t quite aware of what’s happening until several seconds after the Russian man had already managed to take ahold of Ryder’s jaw and force his head up to look the man in the eyes. 

Ryder blinks rapidly in shock and weakly tries to pull his face away, but the man has a grip of iron and doesn’t let Ryder move away. 

“I know you are lying and I do not like it when people lie to me. When people lie to me, very bad things happen to them. Now, you have one more chance to tell me the truth about what you and your little friends did last night or else you are going to get more than just a knife in the back,” the Russian man snarls. 

Ryder is petrified as he looks into the man’s shadowy green eyes. Ryder opens and closes his mouth a few times, not knowing exactly what to do or say right away. “We spray painted a building, but it was abandoned and no one uses it so it was harmless,” Ryder rapidly defends himself. 

The man doesn’t release Ryder like he had thought he would once he admitted to the crime. His grip stays firm and unwavering. 

“You were mistaken. The building you defaced with your vulgar art is not abandoned. I own that building, and I run a business there,” the man explains. 

When Ryder hears that the building actually is owned and used, and that this intimidating man in front of him owns it, his blood runs cold. So that’s what all of this is about and why he was kidnapped and is being held against his will. He and his friends had vandalized the man’s property and now he’s getting his revenge. 

“I’m sorry! We didn’t know anyone used it! It was just supposed to be for some fun, we didn’t mean it I promise!” Ryder desperately whimpers. 

The stony Russian man doesn’t seem to like Ryder’s answer, his frown deepening. “I don’t care what you thought,” he hisses, “I don’t about anything you have to think now. The damage is done and you will pay in one way or another.”

Ryder’s face is released then and the man in front of him continues to glare. Ryder shrinks into himself under the scrutiny. He’s terrified and feels helpless. Never before has Ryder felt like this. He’s always been able to stick up for himself and others and rarely backs down. 

The Russian man steps out from behind his desk then and over to Ryder’s side. His hand comes up and settles on Ryder’s injured left shoulder. The feeling makes Ryder freeze in fear, tensing up at the light pain already spreading due to the weight of the man’s hand. 

“I am a very powerful man in this city Ryder. You really should’ve been more careful about whose building you decided to paint on,” the man speaks lowly, applying more pressure to Ryder’s shoulder. 

Ryder cries out sharply in pain as he instinctively pulls away from the hand making his shoulder hurt more and more. He doesn’t get far though before the Russian’s other hand circles around and grips onto Ryder’s right shoulder to keep him from getting too far away. 

“Stop, please! That hurts too much,” Ryder begs as he feels the prickleing of tears forming in his eyes. In this situation he isn’t ashamed to cry, his worry more directed towards escaping the pain the man is inflicting. 

The Russian acts as if he doesn’t even hear Ryder. He simply continues to apply pressure, watching as Ryder struggles and weeps openly, pitifully begging for him to stop. 

Ryder continues to try to free himself, but to no avail. The Russian man is stronger than him, and the pain is blinding and distracting. 

Only when the Russian feels and sees blood seeping out and soaking through Ryder’s shirt does he stop. He had reopened the wound and knows from experience how much it hurts. That’s what he had wanted all along. 

As soon as the man releases Ryder, the younger man crumbles in on himself and slides off of the chair and onto the floor. He continues to cry, heavy sobs raking through his body, leaving him trembling. 

The Russian man feels no pity as he observes Ryder on the floor. Silently he steps over to the door and opens it, leaning out to exchange hushed words with someone. 

When the Russian man steps back into the room, he’s followed by Aleksei. Ryder isn’t aware of the extra person in the room with him until he feels hands take ahold of his right arm to haul him up. 

Ryder flinches and reels back to get away, worried he was going to be hurt again. Aleksei is crouching near him with his hands up in a sign of peace, and Ryder wipes at his eyes with the back of his hand as he searches for the man who had hurt him.

The Russian man is standing back behind his desk, watching the scene in front of him fold out with a casual air surrounding him as if nothing had ever happened. 

Ryder looks back to Aleksei in time to see him reach out again towards Ryder, but this time doesn’t touch him. “Come on I’m just here to help you up and get you back to your room,” he explains in what almost sounds like a gentle voice. 

Ryder doesn’t have any reason yet to not trust Aleksei, other than the fact he is one of his many kidnappers, but at least he doesn’t seem to want to hurt him. So Ryder moves forward a little and reaches out to take Aleksei’s offered hands to help himself stand up. 

Ryder holds onto Aleksei’s hands for a moment longer just to balance himself, before he takes a tiny step behind the man to get some form of a barrier between himself and the Russian man. 

The Russian man just smirks when he sees the action. “You should rest and let that shoulder heal a little more. I’ll see you again very soon Ryder.” 

Ryder doesn’t look at the Russian man, not wanting to give him the pleasure of knowing he’s scaring him, even though Ryder is sure he already knows. 

Aleksei takes ahold of Ryder’s good arm lightly to guide him to the open door and out into the hall. Ryder instantly feels safer and he relaxes minutely. Together he and Aleksei go back to the room Ryder had woken up in. 

Once there, Ryder goes inside without a fight and goes right over to his bed to sit down. Aleksei watches, his eyes roaming over Ryder’s bloody shirt. “If you want, tonight when I get off I can bring you a clean shirt to wear,” he offers. 

Ryder just sniffles, his tears having finally halted, and nods slowly. “Thank you,” he whispers. 

Aleksei offers him a nod in return. “Try to take it easy until I get back okay? I’ll bring you some dinner and more water too.”

Then Aleksei turns and goes back out through the open door, closing and locking it behind him, leaving Ryder all alone again. 

Ryder sits in silence for several minutes, blankly staring at the wall in front of him. Then he finally comes back to himself and removes his shirt as slowly and cautiously as he can. 

Once it’s off he tries to gently dab away the rest of the blood on his back. When he deems himself clean enough, Ryder tosses the soiled shirt away and lies down on the bed. He fights to not think about what must be waiting for him since the Russian man said he would be back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING! This chapter took quite a while to write mostly because of Christmas and also because the chapter itself is a little longer than the others. Speaking of Christmas, I hope everyone had an awesome holiday and enjoyed not being in school! I still love getting kudos and comments from you all so keep them coming please and thank you! Next chapter will be up shortly. xo


	5. Character Photos

This is how I imagine Yousef looking, or at least similar with the same dark hair and facial hair. Obviously you can envision him as anyone you'd like but for the purpose of the story, I am going to go off of this image whenever I describe Yousef's physical appearance. 

 

This is how I picture Ryder to look as well, and the same stands for him. Think of him as looking however you'd like, but for the story I will base Ryder's looks off of this photo. 

 

Just figured I would let you in on how I think my two main characters look. I think they would look good together, in my humble opinion lol. Xo


	6. Caught

Ryder isn’t aware he had dozed off until he awakes to the feeling of being lightly shaken. His eyes open instantly as he remembers the Russian man’s cryptic warning, but he relaxes and sits up when he notes that it’s only Aleksei, no scary Russian man in sight.

“I brought you your stuff. Clean shirt, glass of water, and another sandwich,” Aleksei offers quietly and sets everything down on the small table at the foot of the bed. 

Ryder moves carefully as he swings his legs off of the bed’s edge to stand. He’s thirsty, and also knows some more food can only be a good thing. 

Ryder grabs the clean shirt first, a black t-shirt this time, noting that the shirt itself is quite large and Ryder suspects he isn’t the first to be wearing it. The article of clothing even smells similar to the laundry detergent his mom uses on his own clothes. Ryder slips it on over his head gingerly, before he sits down in the single chair and reaches for his water, gulping half of the liquid down in just a couple of swallows. Then he rotates and exchanges the water for the sandwich, the same kind as before, and begins to eat. 

Aleksei crosses the room to pick up Ryder’s bloody shirt and balls it up. “I know Yousef can be scary… and borderline crazy sometimes, but I’m not like him, yeah? I won’t do those things to you, I promise. I can’t do much to help much more though unless I want killed myself, but I at least won’t hurt you,” Aleksei states quietly. 

Ryder looks at the other man as he speaks, a little weary still but so far he thinks the man is speaking the truth. 

“Thanks,” Ryder replies in an equally hushed voice. “Is Yousef your boss? I know you mentioned a boss before,” he then asks. 

Aleksei bites his lip and looks quickly away. “I shouldn’t have said his name in front of you. You can’t call him that or he will hurt you. Address him as sir. But to answer your question, yes, he’s my boss. He’s the boss of all of us here and many others all over the city.”

Ryder frowns a little around a bite of his sandwich, swallowing the mouthful of food before speaking again. “I’ve never heard of him before though… what kind of work do you all do?” Ryder questions. 

At that, Aleksei shakes his head and shoots Ryder a look resembling pity. “I’ve already said too much, I can’t answer that too. Just be smart about what you do and say in front of him okay? He’s very powerful and you don’t stand a chance against him.”

Ryder feels even more discouraged after hearing Aleksei’s speech. He already had a hunch that the man, the boss, was powerful and not to messed with, but Ryder feels like his chances at escape are slowly crumbling with the more he learns about his situation. 

“Why can’t he just let me go? He already threw a goddamn knife at me, isn’t that punishment enough?” Ryder questions, though he isn’t really asking for a response. Ryder glances over at Aleksei then with worry in his eyes. “He won’t kill me… will he?”

Aleksei meets Ryder’s eyes but doesn’t answer. The lack of a response makes Ryder suddenly feel ill, and he sets his half eaten sandwich back down on it’s plate, his appetite no longer present. Aleksei steps closer to Ryder and lets out a sort of sigh, running a hand through his neatly combed, dirty blond hair in a distressed manner. 

“Just remember what I said before, about being careful around him. Do what he says and don’t talk back or go looking for a fight. Don’t be an instigator,” Aleksei warns firmly. The man then raises his arm and pulls the sleeve of his shirt up slightly around his wrist to look at his watch. When he registers the time the device reads, he sighs again. 

“I need to go. Eat the rest of your sandwich and finish your water. I’ll see you tomorrow yeah? Good luck,” Aleksei murmurs. He waits a moment for Ryder to say something in return, but is met with silence. Aleksei doesn’t push and simply takes his leave, taking the dirty shirt along and locking the door behind him. 

Ryder feels like crying again. His mind is racing to attempt to figure out how he can convince Yousef to spare his life and release him from this prison. Ryder faces the table again and gradually lowers his forehead down to meet the cool metal table top. 

He takes a few deep calming breaths to try and clear his head and slow his rapidly beating heart down. Ryder gives himself plenty of time to relax since he’s sure he has some time to think, or at least he hopes, until he has to face Yousef again.

After several minutes of deep breathing, Ryder picks his head back up. He does as he had been told by Aleksei, picking his sandwich back up, returning to taking slow bites from it. 

 

\--------------

 

Several hours later, Ryder had finished his meal and had begun to pace back and forth in his room over and over, worrying and thinking. He is still unable to come up with any tricks or key pieces of information that could get him out of this mess. All Ryder so far thinks he can do is follow Aleksei’s advice and simply take whatever Yousef throws at him, literally and figuratively. Doing as Yousef asks shouldn’t be too hard, Ryder thinks, since the Russian man oozes authority and the last thing Ryder wants is to pick a fight with him. 

After Ryder has finished his pacing, he lies down on his bed to try and rest. All of his pacing and deep thinking had worn him out, along with the horrible experience of meeting Yousef for the first time. 

Ryder once again hadn’t realized he drifted off until he awakes to the sound of his door opening. He rubs his eyes quickly while simultaneously sitting up and moving as far away from the door as possible while remaining on his bed. In the doorway stands the one and only Yousef. The boss. Ryder’s eyes are trained on him in fear, but he doesn’t dare make the first move or utter the first words. 

Yousef steps into the room and offers Ryder a smile, but Ryder knows better. The smile isn’t one of kindness or innocence. The smile makes Ryder shiver and look away for a moment to regain his composure. 

“I don’t believe we finished our discussion yesterday, Ryder. I am a very busy man and have many other important responsibilities to attend to, so I dearly hope you don’t waste my time now,” Yousef advises. 

Ryder turns his gaze back to Yousef to stare at the Russian man, unsure if he’s being invited to talk or if the man wants him to get up. Ryder’s hesitation is soon broken when Yousef’s chilling smile drops into an even more so alarming scowl. 

“Do I need to repeat myself? Get down from there at once so we can go before I come over there and make you,” Yousef snaps impatiently. 

Ryder flinches at the dark tone used on him, but it does the trick to snap him out of his terrified trance and he hurries to get off the bed and onto his feet, scurrying over to Yousef. 

The Russian man’s scowl loosens when he’s finally obeyed. “Keep up,” he directs at Ryder, turning around and walking out of the room .

Ryder doesn’t have much of any other choice other than to follow the man. So he does, stepping out of his room and walking directly behind Yousef, sticking to his plan of doing what he’s told. 

The pair walks for a bit before Yousef stops and pauses in front of a door. “Go inside and sit down in the chair. Do not do anything else. Wait for me to come back,” he instructs. Then Yousef unlocks the mysterious door and opens it, placing a hand on Ryder’s lower back to not so gently make him step into the room. As soon as Ryder is through the door, Yousef closes and locks it once more. 

Ryder cringes at the sound of the door closing loudly behind him. After his initial shock passes, Ryder allows himself to look around the new room. A dresser full of drawers towering over Ryder rests against the far wall. An unlit fireplace is to Ryder’s left, and a chair is against the wall on Ryder’s right. Located in the middle of the room is a square table. Nothing else is in the room as far as Ryder can see. The room seems almost daunting as he makes his way over to the chair to sit like he’d been told. Ryder rubs his arms as he does, noting the slight chill in the air. 

Ryder sits down on the hard wooden chair as he waits for Yousef to return. He wonders what’s in store for him. Yousef seems to be grumpy so far, but not as bad as their last encounter. 

Ryder traces the grains of the wooden chair with his index finger, keeping quiet as he continues to gaze around the room. This room too has no windows and no other doors other than the one he came in from which had been locked. 

No items could be used as weapons either, as far as Ryder could see. Ryder’s eyes flick over to the colossal dresser. He perks up then. There could be something of use in a drawer. Ryder glances back at the door as he waits for a few seconds in silence for any signs of Yousef returning. When he hears none, Ryder darts up out of his chair to go to the dresser. 

He starts to tug on the handles of the drawers, pulling as hard as he can to get them to open, but they’re locked. Ryder tries each and every one of the drawers in a desperate haste, his hope evaporating as one by one the drawers he tries don’t open. “No no please open,” Ryder begs, though though still none open. 

Ryder is about to pull his leg back and kick the dresser in his frustration when his blood turns cold as ice. He can hear a key being inserted into the lock of the door. Ryder whirls his head around, eyes wide as the door swings open. He’s been caught. 

Yousef stands in the doorway, and as soon as he sees Ryder up and over by the dresser, obviously guilty of trying to open the drawers and not in his chair like he had instructed, a scowl once again settles over his features. Yousef’s dark hair and facial hair make him look extra intimidating with the way the lights reflect off of him. 

“I thought I specifically told you to come in here and sit down, nothing else. Then I come in here and you are clear across the room, trying to snoop,” Yousef hisses. He closes the door with a bang behind him, not wasting any time in stalking over to Ryder. “I’m beginning to think you want me to punish you. You just keep acting out. My threats don’t seem to be working,” he continues darkly. “Go sit. Now,” Yousef snaps. 

Ryder recoils at the sharp voice and bumps back against the dresser, letting out a light squeak as he darts over to the chair to sit down like he was originally supposed to do. 

Yousef smirks a little then and follows Ryder across the room. “You want to see what was inside of those drawers huh?” Yousef asks Ryder in a teasing voice. 

Ryder blinks up at the man in front of him and slowly shakes his head. 

Yousef laughs wickedly at Ryder’s obvious lie. “You are snoopy and a liar! Too bad you aren’t a good one,” Yousef mocks. He reaches behind himself and into the pocket of his fancy dress pants. “Now, give me your hands,” Yousef instructs. 

Ryder slowly brings his hands up from his lap, unsure of why he’s being asked to do the action. 

Yousef takes his hand out of his pocket, revealing two pairs of handcuffs. Ryder’s eyes instantly widen and he retracts his arms back against his body to try and keep them away from the man. 

Yousef was ready for this however, and with lightning fast reflexes, he reaches for Ryder’s hands himself to pull one down to the armrest of the chair. “Stop resisting,” Yousef growls, “you’ll only succeed in making me more angry.”

“No, you can’t do this! I’ll stay in the chair this time I swear,” Ryder pleads desperately. 

Yousef doesn’t stop as he grips one of Ryder’s wrists and tugs, drawing a yelp from Ryder at the tight grip and brute force used. Yousef manages to bring one of Ryder’s wrists down close enough to the armrest to succeed in getting one handcuff around Ryder’s wrist. Yousef is quick to latch the other half of the handcuff onto the armrest of the chair so at least one of Ryder’s arms is contained. 

Ryder is desperate as he pulls on his now bound wrist. In his desperation, Ryder kicks out his legs to try and at least buy himself some more time or even injure Yousef so he can get away. Ryder hears the moment he manages to kick the man, Yousef swearing as he recoils back. His hand clutches his lower abdomen for only a moment before he looks down at Ryder with a murderous glare. 

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he hisses, lunging forward to finish his job. 

Yousef moves on to Ryder’s other wrist as the boy begins to thrash around and struggle. He knows he’s just made Yousef even more angry even than before, and knowing such a fact makes him even more terrified of what the man will do to him if he manages to get Ryder totally bound and secure. Yousef snags his other wrist eventually, and cuffs it to the other armrest. Once the dirty work is done, Yousef steps back to admire his work. 

“That would’ve been a lot easier for the both of us if you wouldn’t have struggled so much,” Yousef states bluntly. Ryder only continues to struggle against his restraints. 

“Please take these off! Please, I’m sorry! I won’t run away and I won’t even leave this chair!” Ryder begs, feeling more scared than ever before. 

“You may say you will not run away but I do not believe you, I know better. With these on I know you cannot possibly run away,” Yousef taunts. “Now, before we begin, I would like for you to know that these walls are soundproof. You may yell and scream as much as you’d like and no one will hear you.”

Ryder’s mouth works around the right words as he tries to process. “WHat are you talking about? What’re you going to do to me?” Ryder asks. 

Yousef ignores Ryder as he turns to walk over to the dresser. He keeps his body between them both so Ryder can’t see what he’s doing. The Russian man pulls out another key from a pocket, slipping it into the lock of one of the many drawers. He opens it and rummages around in the drawer in search of something. When he finds what he has been looking for, Yousef turns back around to look at Ryder.

“I have never been fond of boys like you Ryder. Boys who think they’re invincible and can live life without facing consequences for their actions. The world doesn’t work that way. For every action, there is a reaction. You acted, and therefore I will react,” Yousef explains, finally bringing his arm up to reveal what he has in his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update for you all! I still love getting comments and kudos alike so keep it up! I have some of the next chapter typed up too but it still needs some work and will be posted soon! Thank again for reading! Xo


	7. Punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, there is a somewhat brief mention of death/murder near the end of this chapter, just as a heads up for any readers who may not wish to read about that. Otherwise, I hope you all like the update, The chapters seem to be getting longer and longer the more I get into the writing groove so I hope to have another one up and posted soon. Thanks! Xo

Ryder knows his eyes widen when he is finally allowed to see what Yousef has in his hand and see what the man plans to do to him. When the item is visible, Ryder starts subconsciously shaking his head at the sight, unable to form any words in his state of fright.

Yousef smirks wickedly at the speechless boy. A dark glimmer shines in his eyes as he stalks swiftly over to stand in front of Ryder, towering over him purposefully in order to be even more intimidating. 

“Do you know what I do to those who disobey me? Those who seem to do everything they possibly can to make me angry? I don’t just let them walk away Ryder, you must understand that,” Yousef says with a hint of amusement in his voice. 

Ryder can hardly grasp what he’s hearing, his primary focus on what Yousef is holding. The man is gripping a sizable knife, the blade extending at least six inches. “No…” he whispers weakly, but can’t get any other words out afterwards.  

Yousef tuts softly as he leans down closer to Ryder’s face, bringing the knife up to rest lightly on the tip of Ryder’s nose. “Now now Ryder, you should’ve thought about this before you went out looking for trouble. This is what you deserve,” Yousef murmurs. 

Ryder is almost cross eyed as he tries to keep a focus on the knife, breath catching in his throat when he feels the cold metal bite into the skin of his nose. He doesn’t dare move even slightly, in fear of the knife following and cutting him. 

Yousef allows the knife to drag just ever so slightly down Ryder’s nose, bright red blood instantly escaping the skin. Yousef picks the knife up then and moves it down to Ryder’s right hand, which is still cuffed down to the chair’s armrest. 

“Are you right handed Ryder?” Yousef asks smoothly. 

Ryder blinks away tears as his eyes land down on his hand and the knife hovering above it. He chokes on a sob as he presses his eyes closed tightly, knowing whatever his answer is, it won’t stop the man from inflicting pain on him, and in that case Ryder doesn’t want to see it happen. So Ryder doesn’t bother with a response.  

Yousef scowls and narrows his eyes down at Ryder. “Now you think it is a good idea to ignore me?” he barks out, making Ryder flinch back.

Ryder just squeezes his eyes closed even tighter in fear and whimpers again, a tear from each eye managing to escape and slide down his cheeks. 

Yousef growls as he brings his free hand up to slap Ryder across his face. “Answer me when I’m asking you a question,” Yousef barks.

Ryder’s head snaps to the side with the force of the hit, simultaneously letting out a sharp cry. Ryder’s eyes open at that point and he flicks them up to look up at Yousef pleadingly. His lower lip is wobbling, dangerously close to letting out another sob. “Y-yes… I’m right handed,” Ryder manages to croak out. 

Yousef holds his head up higher then. “Now was that really so hard?” he hums, bringing the knife back down to Ryder’s right hand, the silver blade once again hovering over his tanned skin. 

Ryder once again closes his eyes, tensing his arm in order to brace for the pain soon to come. 

Only a second later, just as Yousef lets the knife lower just slightly more to press against the top of Ryder’s hand, a blaring alarm starts to sound off around them. The noise makes Yousef and Ryder both jump, startled. Ryder’s eyes blink open as he looks around in worry, while Yousef frowns. 

“Fucking hell, not again,” he snarls, moving away from Ryder and heading towards the door. “I’ll be back soon.” Then Yousef leaves the room, locking the door behind him. 

Ryder slumps over in his chair as he shudders, not ashamed to let a few more tears fall now that he’s alone. He has no idea what the alarm means, but he’s simply happy that it meant Yousef left and his hand was spared, at least for the time being. 

Ryder weakly tugs at his restraints again, but he knows they won’t give and allow him to break free. He can just be happy his injuries aren’t too bad. The blood has stopped trickling from his nose, though it continues to sting slightly along with his cheek, and Ryder is sure it’s bright red from the force behind Yousef’s hand. 

Ryder sniffles softly and glances around again as the alarm suddenly shuts off. Ryder wishes it would stay on since that would probably mean Yousef would have to stay away for that time. If it’s off, he will probably be back soon. 

Just as Ryder had predicted, Yousef does return eventually. Ryder isn’t sure exactly how long he was gone since there was no way to tell with no clocks in the room or windows. Ryder had composed himself a little by the time the door is opening again and Yousef steps into the room. 

Yousef no longer has a knife in his hands, but he still doesn’t look particularly happy. His eyes are dark and his lips pressed into a straight line. The man steps over to Ryder without saying a word. Ryder watches him carefully, untrusting of why he’s back and coming closer to him. 

“You seem to have some of the best luck I’ve ever seen before. Time to go again,” Yousef voices, bringing the key for the handcuffs out of his pocket. Yousef leans down and begins working at unlocking the cuffs from around Ryder’s wrists. 

Ryder gnaws on his lower lip as he’s slowly freed. As soon as the cuffs are off of both wrists, Ryder brings his hands up against his chest to rub at his wrists and shrink more in on himself, away from Yousef. 

Yousef takes a step back and raises an eyebrow expectantly. Ryder continues to hesitate, not exactly wanting to get up and see what Yousef has in mind for him next, since his fun seemed to have been interrupted by the alarm. He also doesn’t exactly want to push Yousef’s patience since the man seems to have so little of it to spare. 

Ryder swallows back his fear and he inches himself forward slowly to stand up. Yousef simply watches him with crossed arms. Ryder eventually gets to his feet, keeping his arms tucked up into himself in a defensive manner. Yousef begins his way over to the door, keeping an eye on Ryder as he goes. 

Ryder follows gradually, his head hanging a little as he fights back the urge to run back to his chair to cower in fear. He wipes at the drying blood on his nose, wincing slightly when he presses just a little too hard. Yousef opens the door and steps into the hall, holding the door open for Ryder. As soon as they’re both out of the room, Yousef begins to head one direction and Ryder once again simply follows. 

During the walk, both Yousef and Ryder remain quiet. Yousef is silently cursing the alarm for putting a stop to his fun with Ryder, but he does think this next part will be at least a little bit fun too. He knows it will make Ryder upset and therefore is fine with bringing him along. Meanwhile, Ryder thinks exactly the opposite. He’s scared that now Yousef will do even worse to him since he was stopped before he could draw much blood. 

In no time at all it seems, they both arrive to an open set of doors. Ryder slows down slightly as Yousef strides in, wanting to take his time since his nerves have yet to calm down. Once Ryder passes through the doors and into the other room, his eyes widen and he freezes, before he tries to take a step back. 

Yousef reaches out with lightning fast reflexes though and grabs ahold of Ryder’s left arm, his bad one, making him hiss in pain. “Come in here Ryder, don’t be shy,” Yousef cooes, though his seemingly gentle tone makes Ryder shiver, knowing it’s fake. He shakes his head and weakly pulls against Yousef’s grip, but the pain makes him stop again. 

Ryder does as he’s told at that point and creeps forward, further into the room. It isn’t even a room really. It’s the main part of the warehouse. The massive room expands outwards to give the room enough space for all of the different boxes and other containers around. There are tables spread out with papers on them and a few computers. Ryder can’t yet tell what exactly is in the boxes but it all looks very shady to him. There are no windows and all of the doors are closed, probably all locked too. There are other people there as well. Some of them Ryder recognizes from the night he was taken. They’re all silent and grouped together, standing in front of Yousef. 

Yousef brings Ryder to his front and then places his hand on Ryder’s injured left shoulder, pressing down, in turn making Ryder cry out and sink down to his hands and knees to try and escape Yousef’s hand. Yousef smirks since that’s exactly what he had wanted. “Stay down and be quiet,” Yousef speaks down to Ryder, the boy panting quietly as he lets the pain pass. 

Yousef turns out to the crowd of people then and clears his throat. “Young Ryder here, as you all know, is now staying with us. I was in the middle of something with him when our alarm went off. That alarm is for emergencies only, you all know that. Or at least I thought you all did,” Yousef starts. 

Ryder has caught his breath by then and is carefully glancing around at everyone from his place at Yousef’s feet. He shifts a little so he can actually sit down on his rear, making himself a little more comfortable. 

Yousef glances down at his squirmy prisoner before returning his focus to the others listening to him. “By a show of hands, who here would consider an early shipment an emergency?” he asks. The man’s eyes sweep over everyone in front of him, no one daring to raise their hands. Yousef nods. “No one does? Well that’s strange, since that’s the exact reason the alarm was set off. Unless the system is wrong of course, but it never is. And no one is coming forward to admit to pulling the alarm? Someone had to have done it” Yousef says, his voice dropping down an octave, his already low voice now coming out sounding predetatory.

Still, no one comes forward to admit they were the one to pull the alarm. Yousef growls. “Your silence leaves me no choice. We will do this the hard way,” Yousef begins. He scans the crowd before his eyes settle on a man near the front of the group. “You, come here,” Yousef demands. 

The man chosen begins a slow walk towards Yousef. When he gets close enough  to stand in front of his leader, Yousef tilts his head. His hand raises and reaches forward, tucking the man’s head in the crook of his arm, before giving it a smooth twist, swiftly breaking the man’s neck. The man’s body lands in a broken heap just beside Ryder, making Ryder’s eyes widen in shock and a horrified scream escape his mouth. 

Ryder starts scrambling to get away from the body, but Yousef steps back to block Ryder’s escape. The man kneels down to wrap a hand lightly around Ryder’s neck, making Ryder go still and his screams turn into distressed whimpers. “Never seen a dead body before huh?” he purrs into Ryder’s ear, Ryder’s eyes locking back onto the dead man on the ground. 

Ryder weakly shakes his head and turns his head to look away. Yousef releases Ryder’s neck and gives his cheek a light pat. “Stay here, Ryder,” Yousef states again. He then rises back up to his full height and looks cooly back at the group of people in front of him, all of whom look worried at this point. “Does anyone want to come forward now? Or should I break the neck of every single person in this place?” Yousef barks. 

Ryder doesn’t look at the body again. He instead shivers and looks at Yousef’s shoes. He takes in their details and attempts to busy his mind with thoughts of where he may have bought the shoes and how much they might have cost. It isn’t very successful however. 

Yousef points to another man for him to come up, before a different man in the group steps forward instead. “Wait!” the unknown man calls. “Please, don’t kill anyone else, it was me,” he says shakily. Yousef nods slowly and ushers the man forward. 

The guilty man proceeds to walk up to stand in front of Yousef. Yousef takes a deep breath before he reaches down to place his hand in Ryder’s hair. He gives it a slight tug and Ryder gasps softly as he looks up to see why Yousef is bothering him. Yousef releases Ryder’s hair and gestures to the still living man beside him. “Pay attention to this Ryder,” Yousef instructs. Yousef then takes a few steps to the side so he can reach out and into the jacket pocket of one of the more trusted men in the warehouse who just happened to be standing nearby, pulling out a switchblade. Yousef unlatches the blade and stalks back over to his original spot. There, he wastes no time in thrusting the blade forward and into the guilty man’s abdomen. The man chokes a little as Yousef twists the blade, his face showing no emotion. 

The man being stabbed starts to sag, and Yousef takes ahold of him with his other hand and frees the knife before he shoves the blade back in a few different times, before finally letting go of the man and letting him slump fully onto the ground beside the other dead man. Ryder once again is horrified, and this time he can’t look because of all of the blood and doesn’t want to be sick. Ryder scrambles to get to his feet, tears threatening to spill again in what seems like the millionth time since he’s been kidnapped. 

Ryder fights to get up, but once again, Yousef stops him as he’s just getting his feet under him. Ryder begins to thrash as he panics, wanting to get away from the death and the man responsible for the deaths. Yousef just pulls Ryder against his side and wraps both arms around him to keep Ryder’s own arms pinned. “Let me go,” Ryder begs, feeling tears slipping down his cheeks. “Please… I can’t, I’ll be sick,” he pleads. 

Yousef doesn’t let Ryder go as he looks back at the crowd around him. “Someone clean this mess up. Then get back to work,” Yousef demands. Then he turns around and starts to leave the room, Ryder still tucked against him as he leads him out as well. 

Ryder lets himself be dragged, his legs not really working very well since he’s still in shock. He can’t make himself stop crying either. Yousef sighs as they wander back down the hall. “You really must stop your blubbering. If anything you should be thanking me. Death really isn’t so scary once you’ve been exposed to it like I have,” Yousef explains. 

Yousef’s little speech doesn’t help Ryder feel better at all. He only continues to cry, rattled to the core from what he has just witnessed. 

Yousef returns Ryder back to the room the boy has been staying in, and Yousef takes Ryder over to his bed to sit him down on it. Ryder instantly lies down and curls up into a ball on his side, earning an unimpressed look from Yousef. 

Without another word Yousef turns to exit the room, but is stopped with a small choked off sob.

“Are you going to kill me too?” Ryder asks without looking at Yousef, his eyes instead squeezed tightly closed.

Yousef stops his trek to the door and turns around to look at Ryder who looks absolutely pitiful like this. “Not for the time being no, I do not plan on killing you,” Yousef answers. 

Yousef’s response only makes Ryder more upset as he brings his arms up to cover his head. Yousef blinks in surprise since he had certainly not expected such a reaction from Ryder, having thought he would’ve been happy to hear he wasn’t going to be killed. 

Yousef paces back over to the bed where Ryder is lying and he stares down at him curiously. “You aren’t happy to hear that?” he asks. 

Ryder finally opens his eyes with a small sniffle. He looks up at Yousef through wet lashes, his hand coming up to wipe his nose with the back of his hand, gentle still because of the cut, not wanting to irritate it. “That just means you’re going to hurt me more,” Ryder whispers and hiccups softly. 

Yousef frowns as he raises an eyebrow. “Like I told you before, you are only being hurt as a punishment,” he explains.

Ryder only rolls over to face the wall and curls up again. He sniffles again and brings his hands back up against his chest, rubbing at his wrists again. “But I said I was sorry, I really didn’t know,” Ryder whispers.

Yousef hums to himself in thought as he takes a seat on the foot of Ryder’s bed. “If you are truly sorry for what you have done and wish to no longer be punished in the way you have been, I have a proposition for you,” Yousef proposes, a wicked smile blooming across his face. 


	8. The Proposition

Ryder doesn’t respond to Yousef right away. He doesn’t know if he should bother to even seem interested at this point. He doesn’t trust Yousef in the slightest. Finally though, Ryder turns his head up to look at the man on his bed, silently encouraging him to go on with the proposition. 

Yousef leans in towards Ryder as if he’s about to whisper a secret into his ear. “You seem like a reasonable boy, correct? You must understand that I can’t let you go free, but I think a sort of compromise can be met,” Yousef begins. 

Ryder doesn’t have a clue about where their conversation is heading. He’s still shaken up from seeing two people killed right in front of him. The fact that he didn’t even have the chance to help them before they were so brutally killed doesn’t make him feel any better either. It also doesn’t make him feel better that their killer is sitting right beside him. 

Yousef knows he has all the power in this situation. A compromise isn’t needed really, but Yousef thinks if he words it as such then Ryder will put up less resistance. “Stay here with me as a sort of… personal assistant, and in return you will no longer have to fear punishment. Unless of course you break a rule, but you would learn all of the rules with time.” Yousef explains and tilts his head to the side. “How does that sound Ryder? Yes or no?”

Ryder blinks up at Yousef in disbelief at what he had just offered. Almost immediately Ryder shakes his head in outright refusal. “No, I can’t stay here. I have to go home, to my family,” Ryder exclaims, his voice wavering as it grows slightly shrill. 

Yousef frowns at Ryer’s reaction. He brings a hand up to run it through his own hair as he rolls his eyes halfway. “I don’t think you fully understand your situation here. You’re just a kid. That’s it. But me? I run one of the most successful drug rings in America and oversee the distribution of a great deal of firearms. I have men working for me who are as loyal to me as dogs,” Yousef growls, growing nearer and nearer to Ryder after speaking each word. 

Yousef reaches out as he pauses, taking ahold of Ryder’s jaw in his hand to bring his head up roughly. Ryder whimpers in surprise and slight pain since his head is pulled up without any warning, his arms scrambling behind himself to hold himself up and ease the tugging on his head. Yousef’s fingers dig into each of Ryder’s cheeks, his blunt nails pricking into the boy’s skin. Ryder, who now has his balance, slowly brings one arm up while the other keeps him sitting upright, and hooks his hand over Yousef’s lightly in order to try and ease the pressure on his jaw. Yousef doesn’t give. He just glares down into Ryder’s desperate and scared eyes. 

“I am big, you are small. I’m in charge, you are not. I make the decisions around here, not you. You do not get to make demands, I do. Understand?” Yousef snaps. 

Ryder’s eyes are wide and watery, making his eyes even more brilliant green than normal. He chokes on a held back sob, pulling back against Yousef’s hold on him. “But you killed people! You’re a criminal!” Ryder cries out as he is unable to escape Yousef’s hold. He starts to get more desperate in his thrashing, working himself up again in the man’s grip which he can’t escape. In a panic, Ryder starts to use his legs to scramble back from Yousef, and when that very quickly doesn’t work, Ryder resorts to simply kicking his legs out at Yousef instead. 

The angle is a bit weird, but Ryder does manage to land a kick to Yousef’s abdomen. Yousef winces and releases Ryder’s face, allowing the younger man to crawl away from the Russian, tucking himself back in the corner of his bed. Yousef doesn’t let Ryder have his peace for long though, as he sneers and lunges forward to wrap his arms around Ryder and drag him roughly off of the bed. 

Ryder thrashes again as he struggles to free himself once more from Yousef’s vice-like grip. “No! Let me go! Stop, please,” Ryder begs. After a minute of fighting, Ryder exhausts himself and goes limp in Yousef’s arms, knowing he’s just wasting his energy by fighting. He just isn’t nearly as strong as the other man. 

Yousef easily dismisses Ryder’s pleads, keeping him locked against him even as he becomes dead weight. “Remember what I just talked to you about Ryder. Agree to my compromise and stop fighting. This is the last time I will offer this deal. If you refuse it now I will never let you change your mind,” Yousef states, slowly maneuvering himself into a squatting position so he can lower Ryder down to the ground and settle him there and not have to hold him upright. 

Ryder doesn’t make a move to escape Yousef’s grip once he’s been lowered onto the floor. He simply remains exactly where he had been placed and sniffles pitifully. The thought of simply giving up makes him feel sick. Giving up and agreeing to Yousef’s deal may mean never seeing his family again. He just doesn’t know of any other way to protect himself. If he doesn’t agree then Yousef will keep him captive anyway and maybe even kill him.

Ryder curls away from Yousef and wipes his cheeks with the back of his hand. Finally he manages a weak nod as he stares at the grey floor, feeling as if he’s just signed his life away to a monster. 

Yousef smirks in triumph as soon as he finally receives exactly what he had wanted. 

Ryder hesitantly swivels his head around to look up at Yousef, frowning weakly at the smirk he’s met with. “What sort of things would I... do I have to do, as your personal assistant?” Ryder asks in a timid voice. 

Yousef hums quietly as he shifts to stand and steps over to sit on the bed. Ryder’s eyes follow and track the man’s movements, remaining right where he had been put on the floor. “You would stay with me for the majority of the day. You would bring me things of all sorts if I were ever to need something. Keep me company even,” Yousef explains. 

Ryder watches Yousef’s face as the Russian gives details about what Ryder would have to do. His eyes narrow in suspicion since the position doesn’t really seem to have any negatives in any way. Ryder doesn’t know if there will be any surprises along the way. 

“You promise you won’t hurt me? No more torture or knives?” Ryder asks, a little unkindly, but he thinks he deserves to be angry after everything that happened. 

Yousef tilts his head as he shoots Ryder an innocent, yet still cocky look. “No more knives, no more punishments, no more of any of that,” Yousef says, “I promise,” he says to clarify. Then Yousef reaches an open palm out towards Ryder on the floor and raises an expected eyebrow. 

Ryder shrinks back when the hand is extended towards him and looks at it curiously. He remains silent and still for a few moments before he very cautiously reaches his own hand out to take Yousef’s. 

Yousef wraps his fingers around Ryder’s hand, the Russians hand engulfing Ryder’s own. Ryder shifts onto his knees to make the transition from sitting to standing easier, and as soon as he’s got his footing underneath him, Yousef gives a swift and solid tug upwards to bring Ryder fully upright. The tug is sharp enough however, to pitch Ryder forward towards Yousef. Out of pure instinct, Ryder throws his free hand out and onto Yousef’s thigh in order to catch himself.

Yousef smriks once more and releases Ryder’s hand. At the same moment, Ryder quickly takes his hand from atop Yousef’s thigh as if he had been burned, his cheeks flushing pink and he drops his gaze down, trying to back up away from the older man. Yousef stops Ryder’s retreat right away by hooking his arm around the boys waist, making Ryder gasp and freeze, eyes flicking up to look at Yousef with fright. 

“Where do you think you’re going hmm?” Yousef purrs. The man tugs Ryder a bit closer then, parting his legs so he can fit Ryder between them. 

Ryder is confused at Yousef’s actions because not too long ago it seemed like the man despised him. Now, Yousef seems to have had a total personality change. 

“I… I don’t understand…” Ryder stutters out as he once again turns his head to look down, though he’s only met with a direct view of Yousef’s crotch and he has to force himself to close his eyes. He wasn’t quite fast enough though, receiving an eye-full before he manages to stop. Ryder can’t help that the man’s jeans are tight and leave next to nothing to the imagination. 

Yousef grins outright at that point. “No need to understand Ryder. Since you’ve agreed to stay here as my little assistant, you will have a great deal of time to figure things out,” Yousef murmurs. 

Ryder doesn’t know what to do. His hands hang uselessly at his sides, not moving in fear of accidentally touching Yousef. “Sorry,” he whispers, not knowing what else to say that won’t make Yousef angry. 

Yousef unwraps his arm from around Ryder as he leans back some on the bed. “Sorry for what Ryder?” he prods gently. 

Ryder turns his head to the side as he opens his eyes. He waits for a bit before he licks his bottom lip and turns to look back up at the man sitting directly in front of him. “For ruining your building… and for… being a pain, I guess,” Ryder states softly. He isn’t truly sorry, but he thinks the words are what Yousef would like to hear. 

Yousef is indeed pleased when he hears what Ryder is sorry for. He nods slowly. “Good for you, Ryder, for apologizing. I appreciate it. Now, how about we head to my office so I can get some more work done and you can come and keep me company,” Yousef offers, sliding off of the bed without moving Ryder away so they end up standing toe to toe. Ryder brings his lower lip between his teeth as he blushes lightly again, the blush not going unnoticed by Yousef. The man starts towards the door and Ryder obediently follows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally found some time between classes and my mid-terms to type out the rest of this chapter and I am so happy to post it after what's felt like forever! I hope you all enjoy it! Xo


	9. Falling Into Step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SO SO sorry that it has taken this long to update. School and Spring Break are to be blamed for my inactivity! I wanted to post something before April really bad so I made myself sit and and write at least something just so I could post and prove I'm still alive!! Thanks for the continued support, I'll try to post the next chapter soon. Thanks! xx

The pair silently makes their way to Yousef’s office and Ryder feels as if he isn’t really present. His body follows the man like he knows he’s supposed to, but he isn’t fully aware of his actions, his mind elsewhere. 

Yousef leads Ryder through the halls towards his office where Ryder had been already once before. They pass a couple other men who nod at Yousef in respect when they pass, eyes sure to avoid looking at Ryder. 

Once outside of the office, Yousef takes out a set of keys from his pocket and unlocks the door. He swings the door open and raises an eyebrow at Ryder, obviously waiting for him to go in first. The younger man ducks his head and does just that, stepping into the room gracelessly. Ryder steps in far enough for Yousef to enter himself, and then the man closes the door firmly behind them. 

As Yousef steps over and around his desk to take a seat in his chair, he eyes Ryder. “Come here, Ryder,” the man commands while watching him closely. 

Ryder stays mute as he clasps his hands in front of himself and wanders over to stand beside Yousef, awaiting further instructions since he isn’t sure what his new job is exactly and how to go about doing it to avoid getting into further trouble. 

“Sit,” Yousef then orders, the corners of his lips pulling up into a small smirk. 

Ryder frowns and shoots a quick look at Yousef, since the other chair is located on the opposite side of the desk, but Yousef had told him to come beside him instead which didn’t make sense. So Ryder makes to walk back around the desk to do as he had been told and sit down. His actions are interrupted however, by none other than Yousef. “No. Are you that foolish? Come back over here and sit down like I told you to,” Yousef barks. 

The loud tone of the Russian man makes Ryder jump and whirl around to hastily assess the situation. Ryder bites his lower lip again and slinks back over to stop right beside Yousef, before slowly sinking to his knees, and eventually down to his rear, hoping this is what the man had meant. Ryder still remains silent and he doesn’t dare look at Yousef again in fear that he’s once again done the wrong thing. 

Yousef watches Ryder closely the entire time. When at last the boy settles down beside Yousef’s chair, the Russian nods slowly to himself. “Much better. Now that wasn’t so hard was it?” Yousef asks. 

When he receives no answer, Yousef reaches out to clasp a handful of Ryder’s sandy colored hair and gives a sharp tug. Of course Ryder lets out a shrill pained sound, his own hands coming up to bat at Yousef’s unyielding closed fist in an effort to free himself. 

“Answer me,” Yousef hisses after leaning down close to Ryder’s ear. Ryder struggles for another second before he begins shaking his head profusely. 

“No! It… it wasn’t that hard,” Ryder hiccups out pitifully. As soon as Yousef hears Ryder, he releases his grip on his hair and lets the boy crumble in on himself. Ryder slumps forward and curls himself up against the desk, back facing Yousef as he tries to comfort himself. Ryder feels all cried out and lacks the energy to do much more than quiver. 

Yousef ignores Ryder in favor of getting some more work done.

 

 

 

\-------------------------------------------

 

In the next few days Ryder quickly begins to learn what makes Yousef tick and how exactly to keep that from occuring. Ryder has also started to figure out what his new role is for the Russian man. He mostly just sits and keeps the man company while working in his office, and other times is allowed to leave, but only if he returns with whatever Yousef sent him to retrieve such as a drink or a message from Aleksei. 

Ryder never feels absolutely safe around Yousef, but since figuring out how to stay out of his way, Yousef seldom hurts Ryder. Now if Ryder ever pushes his luck with Yousef, he receives a light hair pulling or a firm grip on his jaw paired with a scolding. 

Ryder is given food and water regularly throughout the day with Yousef, given breaks to use the restroom and shower, and allowed to retire to his room each night with fresh clothes. 

Overall, Ryder doesn’t entirely hate the arrangement. By being with Yousef during the day, Ryder is able to be around people and listen in on their conversations, even though sometimes they’re spoken entirely in Russian and Ryder can’t understand a lick of what’s being spoken. 

Aleksei has also become a sort of friend, or an ally even, to Ryder, who enjoys telling Ryder stories about his past and how he came to end up working for Yousef. Aleksei even introduced Ryder to another man who works in the mob, named Vincent. Ryder quickly decided never to make Vincent angry, because Vincent is built like a truck and looks like he could crush Ryder just using his pinky finger. 

Ryder also hasn’t forgotten about the murders he witnessed, and the knife he had thrown at him, but with time, it gets easier and easier to push the memories to a far corner of his mind and not think about them. Yousef hasn’t done anything of the sort lately and Ryder is more than thankful. He just isn’t sure if Yousef is hiding it from him now or ceasing the violence altogether. 

Ryder does have a bad day here and there whenever he’s reminded of his family and he becomes depressed and upset. Normally, Ryder can keep himself from shedding any tears, but some do tend to slip no matter how hard he tries to keep them back. Ryder has also figured out that if he happens to be with Yousef when these bouts of homesickness occur, he can simply bump his head against whatever body part of Yousef happens to be closest to him. Whether it’s the man’s knee, his shoulder, or his arm, if Ryder let’s his head slump forward onto the Russian man, Yousef will reach out and give Ryder a gentle rub on the back of his neck. Ryder enjoys the feeling and it does help him feel just a little bit better. 

The moments are brief however, Yousef only having enough patience to console Ryder for a short moment before he ends up pushing Ryder away again. Ryder knows better at this point than to push his luck and try to get Yousef to continue. The one and only time Ryder did attempt to get extra neck rubs resulted in a stinging cheek, Yousef not above giving Ryder a mild slap to his face. 

Ryder has also done his hardest to figure out more details concerning Yousef’s work, but the man knows how to keep things such as his work, private. The Russian man never leaves any important papers lying about for Ryder to glance over, nor does he let Ryder ever see what is contained in his desk. Each drawer of the desk in Yousef’s office is locked and Ryder has yet to master lock picking. 

After two weeks of staying with Yousef and his employees, Ryder falls into a routine and feels settled. Living in peace can’t last forever though, and definitely not within a mob, danger and violence lurking about at all times.


	10. Weapon Of Choice

Ryder has grown accustomed to sitting beside Yousef while the man works at his desk in his office. He keeps himself entertained for the most part as he makes up stories in his head about what Yousef may be working on. The made up stories are fun for a while until they eventually grow dull and Ryder has to seek out a different kind of entertainment. 

The other form of entertainment is Yousef. Ryder already knows his boundaries, so now his new game is figuring out ways to get Yousef to pay him some attention without getting himself into trouble. 

Just like the last two weeks of routine, Ryder is woken up in the morning to a knock on his door from one of Yousef’s henchmen, the signal to get up and get ready for another day spent at Yousef’s side.

Ryder slips out of his bed and stretches, yawning quietly as he putters over to the pile of clothes on the floor which had been delivered to his room yesterday while he had been away. Ryder actually enjoys not having to pick out clothes in the morning and just wearing what’s been laid out for him. He also doesn’t miss having to worry about laundry. 

Ryder dresses himself in silence and finishes his look by running a hand through his hair in an attempt to tame the wild locks. While laundry is no longer one of his responsibilities, he doesn’t have access to his usual hair products which typically help keep his hair in check. 

Ryder was provided with a small mirror on the wall which he peers into and shrugs to himself, thinking his hair looks as good as it possibly can. Afterwards, Ryder begins to hum a random song to himself as he makes his bed, a rarity when he had been at his own house, but now with his bed being one of the few things he has control of, he likes to make it to his liking. 

Once his bed has been fixed up Ryder heads to the door to slip on his shoes, the only items he’s been allowed to keep. Ryder laces them up before standing and taking a deep breath, preparing himself for the day ahead of him, before raising a hand to knock on the door. 

Ryder only has to wait a second before the door is opened and Vincent appears on the other side. The man offers Ryder a slight nod in greeting, and Ryder shoots him a little grin. 

“Good morning, sunshine,” Ryder says in a higher pitch than his normal voice. He’s recently taken up the habit of goading Vincent, even though he’s terrifying and towers over Ryder. It turns out though that Vincent is one to appreciate a little bit of humor in his life, since he probably doesn’t get much of it, Ryder thinks. 

Ryder’s greeting earns a gruff breathy sound from Vincent, which Ryder has also learned is as close to a laugh as the man ever gets. “Good morning, dickhead,” Vincent replies. 

Ryder does laugh at that, since he’s very much used to being called names like that, all in good fun of course. His friends would do the same thing to him daily. Ryder lets them both walk in silence for the remainder of their time together, his mind occupied now with the thoughts of his friends, which makes him a little melancholy. 

Vincent seems to understand, or at least respect Ryder enough to let it be, even though Ryder runs his mouth almost non-stop most days when they’re around one another. 

The pair stops in front of the now familiar door belonging to Yousef’s office, and Vincent follows the usual procedure. He knocks on the door and announces his and Ryder’s presence, waiting for a moment before being called in. After hearing Yousef give them the go-ahead to enter, Vincent opens the door and steps back to give Ryder the room to slip past him and go inside. As per usual, Yousef is sat at his desk. What isn’t normal though, is the stressed look on the man’s face.

Ryder frowns a little and feels his eyebrows pinch closer together in slight confusion and concern. Before Ryder can open his mouth to ask is anything’s wrong, Yousef holds his hand up, his palm facing Ryder in a motion to silently ask him not to speak. 

“Ryder will not be staying with me today. Take him back to his room and make sure he stays there. I have important business to attend to today and cannot have a child running loose,” Yousef states, ignoring Ryder as he speaks to Vincent behind him. 

Being talked over has never been something Ryder enjoyed, even now as he’s being held captive. “What business? I always stay in here when you do other business stuff. I don’t want to stay in my room, it’s boring in there and cold,” Ryder argues. He frowns further and crosses his arms, stepping closer towards Yousef and away from the door. 

“This isn’t your choice. Get him out of here,” Yousef demands, dismissing Ryder altogether. Vincent starts to move towards Ryder now, doing as his boss has asked him, but Ryder isn’t ready to give up so easily. He runs from Vincent and goes to shield himself behind Yousef who is still sitting in his desk chair. 

“Please, no, I don’t want to go back there. If you were just planning on sending me away once I got here then you shouldn’t have sent Vincent to go and get me at all!” Ryder says, eyes widening slightly as he takes a few steps back from Yousef since raising his voice at Yousef never ends well. “Please”, Ryder repeats in a softer voice, “I have nothing here, if I can’t be around other people I’ll go crazy,” he insists. 

Yousef had narrowed his eyes and stood from his chair the second Ryder’s voice rose above his normal speaking tone. He turns around to look down at Ryder with a scowl. “Don’t argue with me,” he simply says. Vincent ducks around the desk at that moment and takes ahold of Ryder’s upper arm as gently as he can while still being firm. 

Vincent tugs on Ryder’s arm until he’s unable to remain in his spot and stumbles closer to the man, all the while looking on at Yousef, hurt. Ryder knows it’s futile to fight against Vincent’s bulk, though he gives a couple of weak attempts to free himself anyway. “No, please! I won’t talk I promise, you won’t even know I’m here!” Ryder tries to compromise, but Yousef won’t hear any of it. He doesn’t even acknowledge Ryder as he returns to his chair to sit. 

Ryder hasn’t begged like that since the first couple of days he had been taken. It makes him feel weak. Knowing Yousef has made up his mind makes Ryder hang his head in disappointment, and he let’s Vincent maneuver him out of the office and back into the hallway. This time Ryder is silent for a different reason as they head back towards his room. 

Vincent doesn’t help much either since he can’t disobey his boss, and he also doesn’t have the experience to make someone feel better when upset. 

As the pair nears Ryder’s room, Ryder prepares for a boring day stuck all alone in what almost feels like a cell. Right as Vincent reaches out to open the door, each of them turns their head towards a series of crashes and other loud noises from somewhere in the warehouse. Ryder freezes while Vincent’s training allows him to react quickly. 

Vincent shoves open the door and then just as roughly shoves Ryder inside. “Stay here and be silent. Don’t open the door no matter what,” Vincent instructs, before he closes the door and checks to make sure it’s locked. Ryder listens, stunned, as he hears Vincent’s footsteps run down the hallway and eventually are drowned out by another several loud noises. 

Ryder backs away from the door as his mind struggles to think of what he should do to try and further protect himself. He has no idea what the noises are from, and is now locked in a room by himself, without any form of a weapon. Ryder doesn’t want to be a sitting duck though if it comes to needing to protect himself for possible danger. 

Ryder first pushes the table and chair over in front of the door as an extra barrier between him and the hallway. It isn’t much, but it’s all Ryder has to offer. 

Ryder flips his bed over onto its side to examine the frame. It’s metal. Ryder is thankful he hasn’t trimmed his finger nails lately since he was kidnapped, because he uses them as a makeshift screwdriver to unscrew the frame parts from one another. The process is borderline painful and takes longer than Ryder would like. He swears the noises and yells in the hall comes closer while he works. 

He does manage to get a bar off of the bed and that’s what his goal had been. His weapon isn’t ideal of course, but Ryder feels much more secure that he now has something to use as a sort of club in case it comes down to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where time has gone! My last update was so long ago and I can't believe I went so long without posting more. I hope that doesn't happen again, as I plan to write more often now that I'm back in school and follow a set routine. Thanks for the continued support and I hope you enjoy another chapter! xx


End file.
